


The Murder of Howard Stark

by petroltogo



Category: Captain America (Movies), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Human, As In Howard Stark Is Dead, College Student Tony Stark, Corrupt Cop Natasha Romanoff, Don't copy to another site, Everyone has an agenda, Gen, Genius Tony Stark, Howard Stark's A+ Parenting, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Domestic Violence, James "Rhodey" Rhodes & Tony Stark Friendship, MIT Era, Minor Character Death, Murder Mystery, Politician Steve Rogers, Really Short Murder Mystery, Ruthless Obadiah Stane, Shadowy Ruler Alexander Pierce, Sort Of, Stark Family Dynamics, The Resolution Is Included, Unreliable Narrator, Vigilante James Barnes, You Can Play The Guessing Game, who done it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-22
Updated: 2020-03-22
Packaged: 2021-02-28 20:02:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,018
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23252896
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/petroltogo/pseuds/petroltogo
Summary: [There’s Tony Stark, sixteen years old, locked out of his rightful inheritance, sleeping on his best friend’s couch.]Someone payed for Howard Stark’s death. Someone murdered him. Someone made the evidence disappear. Someone looked the other way when it all started. Someone ostracized it. Someone opened the newspapers the next morning, glanced at the obituary,and they smiled.You have the suspects, the evidence, the motives, the outcome. But the question remains: Who murdered Howard Stark?
Comments: 17
Kudos: 206
Collections: oh YES





	The Murder of Howard Stark

There’s Steve Rogers, an idealistic politician known for his efficiency and uncompromising drive.

There’s Obadiah Stane, a practical, highly successful business man, who cares about his profit above all else.

There’s James Barnes, a ruthless vigilante with an unknown objective.

There’s Natasha Romanoff, a cop who’s alliance changes daily, depending on the offered price.

There’s Alexander Pierce, who rules the city mercilessly from the shadows.

[There’s Tony Stark, sixteen years old, locked out of his rightful inheritance, sleeping on his best friend’s couch.]

Someone paid for Howard Stark’s death. Someone murdered him. Someone made the evidence disappear. Someone looked the other way when it all started. Someone ostracized it. Someone opened the newspapers the next morning, glanced at the obituary, _and they smiled_. **But who?**

* * *

If the investigation of the death of Howard Stark had been handled by _un_ compromised professionals, these are the suspects and motives a thorough analysis of Howard Stark’s last week alive might have revealed:

  * Highly confidential sealed criminal records of an unnamed minor [ ~~Steve Rogers~~ ] kept in Howard Stark’s personal safe, potentially for blackmail purposes
  * Legal documentation confirming that while all personal affects, properties and wealth are inherited by his wife and/or son, controlling shares of Howard Stark’s company are to be kept in trust of and managed by business colleague Obadiah Stane until his heir’s twenty-first birthday
  * Childhood pictures of Maria Stark’s youth, showing the faces of three young, happily smiling people, and the written words _Maria, Becca & Bucky_, _always_ on the back
  * An inquiry sent by Howard Stark’s personal email account to the chief of police regarding a potentially mishandled investigation several weeks ago
  * A computer program on a laptop kept in one of Howard Stark’s safe deposit boxes, tracking the money movements between all larger corporations with branches in the city and their links to various well-known up-standing citizens, Alexander Pierce being one of many names on said list



But the investigation is handled, among others, by Detective Romanoff, and so, things that should not be ignored remain undisturbed.

* * *

An unbiased observer who has known Howard Stark for a year or two, is fairly familiar with the man’s character, behavior and social contacts and has caught a few glimpses into the man’s past, may consider the following motives worth pursuing:

  * _Betrayal_ for Steve Rogers who values integrity above all else and who may have been less than pleased by the way his old friend has finally turned against him
  * _Greed_ for Stark’s less ingenious, more ruthless business partner who may have a different vision of their company’s future than Howard Stark did
  * _Revenge_ for the fallout between Maria Stark and her close childhood friend James Barnes which Howard has been known to be blamed for [or, if a very involved observer was to be asked, the many ways in which Stark has failed and mistreated his wife over the years of their marriage]
  * _Self protection_ for Romanoff, who cares little about anything save her own personal gain and for whom Stark’s interest in the on-goings of her unit could have been a risk she was not willing to take
  * _Practicality_ for Pierce who may have seen a chance and thought to exploit it, may have suspected that sooner or later Howard Stark’s involvement and his projects would pose a problem to him



But there are no unbiased observers in this city. Certainly not when it comes to Howard Stark. And so the outcome of this investigation is, perhaps, inevitable.

* * *

If an officer of the law had interviewed Edwin Jarvis…

[Jarvis could have told them that when Steve Rogers saw a threat to his campaign, so close towards winning his first election, he called an old friend of his to ensure the offending evidence disappeared and Howard Stark gladly delivered.]

[Jarvis could have told them that Obadiah Stane and Howard Stark were good friends with a mutual respect for the other’s capabilities and how surprised he would be to see a calculating man like Stane discard a fruitful partnership without cause.]

[Jarvis could have told them that Maria hasn’t been in contact with her childhood friends in years, only ever mentioned them in bedtime stories for her son.]

[Jarvis could have told them that a man like Howard Stark would have been much more likely to offer Romanoff a mutually beneficial deal than expose her duplicity.]

[Jarvis could have told them that Howard Stark never had the patience to wait for the end results of a long-term program, that he’d be much more likely to lose interest and discard yet another old computer around the house than watch them work though the network of a not-quite-friendly competitor.]

But Edwin Jarvis died three years ago in the same car accident that killed Howard Stark’s wife Maria. And what do the unspoken words of a dead man matter? Lots of things change in three years, after all.

* * *

The only question that remains, then, is:

~~What happens next?~~

[In the hallway of his father’s law firm, Tony passes Alexander Pierce. Walks by the man without giving him a second glance.]

[“I’m so sorry for your loss,” pretentious asshole Steve Rogers tells Tony to his face the day his father’s casket is lowered into the ground and doesn’t bother to stay to the end of the ceremony.

Which is more than mom’s beloved childhood friends have done, none of which have bothered to show up in the first place.]

[Outside the police station, Tony dials Obie’s number for what feels like the billionth time. Lets it ring for two whole minutes before he finally.]

[“I regret to inform you that the investigation on your father’s murder has so far yielded no results,” Detective Romanoff states. Hold’s young Anthony Stark’s gaze evenly.

Tony opens his mouth. Thinks of an officer with a distinctive shade of red hair and how he was told to be quiet and stop silly lies and that “the police can only help when there is evidence of a crime, child”. Closes it. Swallows his first fifteen responses. Opens it again.

“What about my dad’s will? Don’t you think it was suspicious that all last minute changes were in favor of Mr. Stane?”

The gaze Detective Romanoff shoots him could almost pass for sympathetic. “There is no hint of fool play, Mr. Stark. All changes were added through the proper proceedings. Is there anything else I can help you with?”]

[ ~~This is not the beginning of Tony Stark’s villain origin story. But it could have been~~.]

**Who murdered Howard Stark?**

* * *

**_Someone payed for Howard Stark’s death._ **

[Alexander Pierce despises to get involved in these things on such a personal level, particularly when it concerns a promising — controllable — asset such as Howard Stark. As it is, Alexander has taken a look at the data Stark has stumbled upon himself and the truth of the matter is simple: The man is too smart, to innovative for his own good. He’s fast becoming a problem.

As is his usual modus operandi, Alexander Pierce pays to make the problem go away.]

**_Someone murdered him._ **

[James Barnes is not your traditional mercenary. For one, he doesn’t usually get payed for the kind of justice he dishes out. But James has been keeping half an eye on the few friends he had, back in the day, before, and he’s never once bought in the pretty public facade the Starks held up all these years.

Getting payed to finally put an end to the man who put his hands on Maria? That’s not a job. It’s a pleasure and James enjoys every bloody second of it.]

**_Someone made the evidence disappear._ **

[Steve Rogers does not condone murder. Everyone – _everyone_ – has a right to be tried before an impartial jury. Steve believes that, he really, truly does. But the thing is, Steve’s never been very good at putting his morals above his best friend, perhaps his only true friend, the one he’s never stopped looking for, since he disappeared all those years ago.

The thing is, Steve would recognize Bucky’s work everywhere. And he doesn’t fool himself into thinking it’s right, and this is Howard, is _his friend_ , but. It’s Bucky. When it comes down to it, Steve will always choose Bucky.]

**_Someone looked the other way when it all started._ **

[Natasha never set out to become a corrupt cop. Like most things in her life, it starts with a favor. Something small and easily passed over. Something that doesn’t actually harm anyone, that isn’t a big deal. It doesn’t stay small, it doesn’t stay inconsequential and by the time it harms people Natasha has grown inured to it.

When socialite Maria Stark dies in a car crash under suspicious circumstances, a lot of people want it to go away. Natasha makes it happen because she can and because the incentive is right. It doesn’t harm anyone who isn’t already dead, but by that point it wouldn’t have made a difference if it did.]

**_Someone ostracized it._ **

[ _A shame_ , Obadiah Stane thinks with a slow shake of his head when he first gets the news. _A shame indeed_.

Howard was a great man, if not a particularly good one, and Stane is the kind of man who appreciates that. More, Howard was the face of the company, the source of its many innovations and his son, well. His son just isn’t cut from the same stuff. A shame indeed, for a friend lost and the business costs’ this death will bring down on him.]

**_Someone opened the newspapers the next morning, glanced at the obituary,_ and they smiled _._**

There is no love lost between Howard and Tony Stark. It’s not a secret for those who are in the know, and so it’s unsurprising when Tony Stark doesn’t cry at his father’s funeral. Watches the casket being lowered into the ground with a stony expression and a close friend by his side who looks murderous enough to keep even the most daring paparazzo a respectful distance away.

[Maria Stark has been dead for years, but Tony Stark never forgot the bruises on her skin. The way she turned on her heels when Howard threw a wench at Tony and he didn’t duck fast enough. The way Mr. Jarvis got blamed for an accident that was no accident at all.]

Not once on his way to the black, nondescript car does James Rhodes loosen his grip on his best friend’s shoulders — or his baleful glare at the watching vultures, for that matter.

[Why would you limit yourself to Howard Stark’s last week when looking for incriminating evidence? Why would you rely on an unbiased observer who has only known the man for a year or two?]

Tony Stark slides into his seat, James Rhodes — as always — close by his side. Across from him, Tiberius Stone glances up from the magazine he’s been casually reading.

Tiberius looks at Tony for a very long moment. Smiles.

“Alright. Who’s next?”

[ ~~There was the heir to an influential family who first delivered the incriminating evidence one of Stark’s computer programs had picked up to Alexander Pierce’s people~~.

 ~~There was the black kid who moved around unseen at Roger’s oh-so-inclusive functions. The one who got in trouble a time or two, never for anything serious, and saw more at the local precinct than anyone gave him credit for.~~ ]

[There was Obadiah Stane who valued Howard Stark’s talent more than the health and safety of his wife and child. There was Alexander Pierce who decided Edwin Jarvis and Maria Stark were acceptable collateral damage. There was Natasha Romanoff who made one too many things disappear. There was Steve Rogers who fights for everyone who can’t fight for themselves – except for Tony because that would’ve meant questioning, doubting a friend.

Do you think they can feel those attentive brown eyes on them? Can feel the target painted on their back? Howard Stark certainly didn’t.]

* * *

**“Who murdered Howard Stark?” someone might ask you one day. And if you’re honest, if you’re truthful as no one in this city ever is, well.**

**“It depends on whom you ask,” you will say.**

**Author's Note:**

> This was a happy Tumblr accident. [You can find more of my madness on tonystarktogo.tumblr.com] I kinda just went with it, which is the reason for the "patchy" writing style. I know it's different from a 'typical' fic, but I hope you like the style and that you enjoyed the reveal at the end! If you have the time, please leave me a comment with your thoughts, I'd love to hear them!!  
> Stay safe and healthy, everyone!


End file.
